Jaipur- City of Gems, My Elephant Ride

The first two days on the train we went to the beautiful city of Jaipur or the Pink City because at least in the old town all the buildings were painted in pink to celebrate the visit of Prince Albert in 1853. It is also known for its tolerance for multiple religions (Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Christian). They coexist and share in each other's ceremonies harmoniously. It is one of the best planned cities in India, so it is still chaotic but more orderly as far as the layout. I realized now that in just 4 days, i am quite comfortable with my ability to cross the street! NO biggie (ha!)

We went to the fabulous City Palace and we ate there at night for dinner outside. Gorgeous. It is also the place where there are amazing gems. We went to a government store that had so many beautiful pieces of jewelry, my head hurt. I resisted. I know my sister, Famane, would be quite disappointed in my behavior, but i had no idea what to do in such a store. We also saw how they make the beautiful dyed textiles they sell. Cool but all these things (we saw how rugs were made too) are about poor folks working in this super exact, painstaking, what looks like leg numbing(cause they sit on their haunches all day)work. I know they don't get most of the money, but they are working. So i don't know how to feel about it.

The coolest thing about the days here were the elephant ride I took up to this magnificent Amber Fort/Palace, built (and expanded on) from 1500’s-1600’s. First of all, these Asian elephants are huge and apparently well trained. We were in this little box on top of the elephant. We have a driver to whom we entrusted our lives. It was a little rocky and slow but exciting!! I do worry a little that these elephants really need to unionize cause they didn’t seem too thrilled with the whole arrangement, going up and down the steep incline several times a day in the hot sun, but what can you do?

This fort is something out of a movie set, but it is real. It so weird, cause I am in the modern times and I am in a Jeep and I am on a street and we make a few turns and all of a sudden I am looking at something that is hard to comprehend and pictures just won’t do it justice. The Sheesh Mahai part was added (1600s) is really colorful with colored glass and walls. I was thinking that to get places like this made on this scale, you really need to be a king who can make people do whatever the Maharaja wants. You need somebody who has all the power to make tens of thousands of people work day in and day out for decades building these complexes. Now days, no way. We have employees and they have rights! There is a family called Singh that created a number of palaces and forts way up in the hills and summer palaces in the middle of lakes throughout this area. The artwork, detail, architecture, engineering and again, the size, is basically AWESOME!!